Ceiling Fan Energy Efficiency Standards Arrive

The DOE just released new ceiling fan energy efficiency standards, which means consumers can stay comfortable while paying less on energy bills.

For energy efficiency advocates, this news has been a long time coming. “In spite of the proven benefits of energy efficiency standards to reduce electric bills, cut harmful pollution, and spur American innovation, the plans to update the efficiency standard had faced Republican opposition in Congress back in 2015 and the final version may see resistance under a GOP administration,” explains Laura Urbanek, Senior Energy Policy Advocate for the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Urbanek believes that updating these standards to a cost-effective minimum level of energy savings will produce results that appeal to all political persuasions, “[The standards will ensure] we aren’t needlessly wasting energy while allowing manufacturers the flexibility to innovate and make even better products for consumers as we’ve seen time and time again from efficiency standards.”

The DOE projects the new standards will cut the energy use of ceiling fans by about 26 percent, resulting in national savings of about 200 billion kilowatt-hours of energy over 30 years, an amount equal to the annual electricity consumption of about 17 million U.S. households. They also will save consumers up to $12 billion and keep more than 120 million metric tons of harmful carbon pollution out of the air during that same period. That’s equivalent to a year’s worth of emissions from 25 million cars.

Read Urbanek’s full blog on the background and impact of this new standard here. c